Saturday, June 29, 2013

An experimental plane crash-landed in a field southeast of Jackson — at a ranch called the Grumpy Moose — on Friday.

The pilot, 80-year-old Charles Peet, of Jackson, was uninjured in the crash, but cut his arm on broken glass climbing out.

“Fortunately, I’m not dead,” Peet said.
Peet, who built the single-engine plane from a kit, was taking off from a grass strip at his ranch, the Grumpy Moose, near Highway 191 and Bryan Flat Road. After reaching an altitude of about 100 feet, the left wing of the Zenith 701 lost lift and stalled. The left wing hit the ground first and the plane cartwheeled, landing nose down, Peet said.
“I thought all along that it would build up speed and I’d be doing fine, but it just stalled, spun over and spit,” he said.

“The worst thing you can feel is fear.”

Teton County Sheriff’s dispatchers received a witness’ call about the crash at 3:22 p.m.
After impact, Peet said he was “totally disoriented.”
“Where is the door handle?” he asked himself.
After clambering out of the plane, Peet walked back to the end of the airstrip to pick up his ATV so he could drive to the ranch house to tell his wife, Marty Peet.

When asked how she reacted, he said, “She’s used to me.”
Peet drove back in the ATV with his wife to the scene of the crash, where Jackson Hole Fire/EMS and Teton County Sheriff’s emergency personnel were waiting.
With the plane resting on its roof, emergency crews were worried about fuel draining out of the engine. They called a wrecker to right the aircraft.
In the meantime, Peet was instructed by sheriff’s deputies to call the National Transportation Safety Board to report the accident.

Peet built the yellow plane from a kit in his barn and has been flying it for two years. On Friday, he flew the plane over from Driggs and landed safely at the Grumpy Moose. After having lunch at the ranch, he wanted to go up and fly again.

Don't know about Peet, but I would have been down on my knees thanking God for my lucky stars. That's my idea of a very close call.

Friday, June 28, 2013

WHAT NIK WALLENDA TEACHES US ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE @ BROPHY'S WORLD
THESE LADIES ARE EVERYWHERE. This one prefers hanging out in the willows of a nearby creek. But when a group of boisterous, unruly kayakers came through she ran out of her cover and took refuge on my good friend Poutichi's grassy lawn.

But don't be fooled by this sweet, bucolic scene. This young female moose would just as soon kill you as look at you, especially if she has calves in the willows. The boys are even worse. These are wild animals and you have to respect that and not get too close within their comfort zones or all hell breaks loose.

This is the first time I've learned how to use my phone to take pics, so who knows what I'll post this summer.

Senator Jeff Sessions, the chief opponent of the immigration bill, released this statement in response to the Senate passing the law by a vote of 68-32:

“Sponsors of this legislation—despite the array of financial, establishment and special interest support—failed to hit their target of 70 votes. The more people learned about the bill the more uneasy they became. Failure to reach 70 votes is significant, and ensures the House has plenty of space to chart an opposite course and reject this fatally flawed proposal."So while the bill passed the Senate, this is just the beginning."The legislation adopted today guarantees three things: immediate amnesty before security, permanent future illegal immigration, and a record surge in legal immigration that will reduce wages and increase unemployment."There will be no border fence, no border surge, nothing but the same tired illusory promises of future enforcement that will never occur. Americans have begged and pleaded time and again for Congress to end the lawlessness. But this amnesty-first bill is a surrender to lawlessness. As ICE and USCIS officers have warned, it will decimate immigration enforcement and erode the constitutional rule of law upon which our national greatness depends. And it remains unfair to the legal immigrants who put enormous time and expense into following the rules our nation has established."This legislation demonstrates that the governing body in Washington has become severed from the people it is supposed to represent. It is a broken promise 1,200 pages long

We all know this politically-correct gay freight train---which I am not on and never will be---has massive momentum as the foundations of our civilization's primary institutions and personal identities continue to be dismantled and 'redefined.' Boundarylessness and confusion grow across the land by the minute.

Having said this, I've never had a problem with people in close personal relationships----call it 'marriage' or what you will---being able to specify who gets their social security or other government benefits at their death or retirement. (Of course as to other bequests outside the government checks, there are always wills, trusts and other estate planning tools which were never in question.)
It's just another expansion of the government entitlement gravy train that will speed on swimmingly until our economy finally collapses for lack of funds and enough viable tax-paying citizens and corporations.

As to the rest of the decision, it seems to me---and I may be wrong here---that the justices are appropriately leaving the decision to legalize or not to legalize gay marriage to the states rather than the overly-powerful federal nannies. DOMA should never have been federally legislated, because it was never a federal issue. (Bill's bad.)

Now I know that the liberals in Congress are going to do everything in their power to pass another federal law mandating the legalization of gay marriage. And it will be the most bitterly fought issue of all time, in my opinion. It is not a federal issue.

The state of California is now left to its own devices---whether within or without the rule of law. We know how the powers there will decide and it amazes me that politicians will go outside and around the will of the people. But again it's a state battle.

There will be myriad lawsuits filed to and clarify this decision, however, I am thankful for its willingness to leave some things to be legislated by the states in keeping with our federalist republic.

In truth, now anyone from a non-gay marriage state can go somewhere else to get 'married' and proceed get and give federal benefits. That should make gays everywhere happy, but what I know of human nature---and the real insatiable power trip underneath all this---is that it will not be enough. Never be enough.

So while the champagne bottles of celebration are being popped on the Supreme Court's front steps, the rest of us can only hold our breaths at the very steep moral and fiscal slippery slope we're on. Very steep.

Meanwhile, get your government benefits while you can and party like there's no tomorrow.

Monday, June 24, 2013

In addition, real Christians often privately hold themselves to a higher standard than any state or federal legislation. That shouldn't change them (us) from backing legislation which lines up with our Biblical worldview and the principles of right and wrong they (we) hold deeply in the marketplace of religious and legislative ideas.

Atheists certainly do. Muslim do too, along with anything-goes-relativists. If they had their way in the fullness of time, marriage between a man and his dog(s) will one day be legal and there would be a total breakdown of all moral as we know it boundaries. It's already happening.

So, the short answer is YES, Christians should continue to stand up for their moral values in legislation and everything else during this dark time.

Fear not, however, God with his Son Jesus Christ is in control and will overcome all depravity and darkness in his own perfect timing---not ours. Every jot and tittle of Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, this country was founded, on Judeo-Christian principles and our nation's history bears this out.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

MOON WILL BE BRIGHT WITH SUPERMOON STATUS OVER THIS SUMMER SOLSTICE WEEKEND. Here in Jackson Hole, it's jacket-cool weather---breezy and beautiful. Not a fire or smoke cloud in sight---so far.

Am enjoying the best downtime I've had this year---arriving exhausted, then going down with a bad cold. That, combined with inevitable altitude adjustment, has given me an excuse to put myself in mild quarantine for a few days. Having little to do except rest, regroup, read and write some letters and emails in an unstressed way is more healing than anything else I can imagine.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF HERE is that these leaders of the free and unfree worlds have all just seen The Great Gatsby and Liberace right before being outfitted and coiffed for the casual chic segment of their G-8 extravaganza. Or perhaps it's summer gangsta style as in Psy Putin prefers Pank that's inspiring the gentleman's fancies. Keith Koffler blames this on Obama's overly-casual style but I dunno.

One thing's for sure, they all look grim, like they're not having fun. Perhaps it's the rigors of non-stop saber rattling over champagne, cold asparagus and liver pate. Or maybe not one of them feels really manly dressed like those Ken doll outfits.

I know it's just me, but these men look incredibly silly in all that summer puffery. Maybe I've just been in Tennessee and Wyoming too long.

Whatever happened to manly summer khaki or denim with a twist of navy, gray with an occasional splash of Master's green? Or, unbeatable lightweight English summer tweeds?

How can these men take each other seriously when they talk about Syria, Benghazi, world banks and various other serious matters? Oh, that's right---they don't.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING BIBLE TEACHINGS I'VE EVER LEARNED AND HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE OVER THE YEARS. Here Tim Keller excerpts the main teaching of his classic The Prodigal God:
“Throughout the centuries, when this text is taught in church or religious education programs, the almost exclusive focus has been on how the father freely receives his penitent younger son. The first time I heard the parable, I imagined Jesus’s original listeners’ eyes welling with tears as they heard how God will always love and welcome them, no matter what they’ve done. We sentimentalize this parable if we do that. The targets of this story are not ‘wayward sinners’ but religious people who do everything the Bible requires. Jesus is pleading not so much with immoral outsiders as with moral insiders. He wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, and self-righteousness, and how these things are destroying both their own souls and the lives of the people around them. It is a mistake, then, to think that Jesus tells this story primarily to assure younger brothers of his unconditional love.
No, the original listeners were not melted into tears by this story but rather they were thunder-struck, offended, and infuriated. Jesus’s purpose is not to warm our hearts but to shatter our categories. Through this parable Jesus challenges what nearly everyone has ever thought about God, sin, and salvation. His story reveals the destructive self-centeredness of the younger brother, but it also condemns the elder brother’s moralistic life in the strongest terms. Jesus is saying that both the irreligious and the religious are spiritually lost, both life-paths are dead ends, and that every thought the human race has had about how to connect to God has been wrong.”
- Tim Keller
on Keller Quotes

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

T'WAS A WARM, BRISK HEADWIND blowing against my Honda Pilot as I crossed the Missouri River at Rocheport, Missouri today. Had left Nashville with its 90+ heat and 100% humidity last night to begin the long drive West and after weeks of non-stop work and projects. Several hours later I collapsed in a motel in Cadiz, Kentucky and slept for nine hours.

Today along with the wind, there was heat and more heat driving west. I managed to stop in Rocheport this afternoon for a short hike along the muddy, fast Missouri. It was almost too hot to walk at that hour.

Now in central Kansas and a good friend called to say the Front Range in Colorado was covered in smoke from new fires spreading in Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park. Over 100 houses are already gone up in flames and evacuations are increasing..... so sad but nature's way of cleaning house of dead wood..... Going to be another long, hot, smoky summer in the Rockies as this drought and the pine beetle blight grinds on, I fear.

Meanwhile, it's a beautiful, breezy night in the center of the country on the High Plains.

Friday, June 7, 2013

MONDAY UPDATE---DISBAND THE IRS
WILLIAM KRISTOL--BORN FREE: One night last week Jay Leno remarked in his monologue, “President Obama says he’s renewing his efforts to close Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay? How about closing the IRS? Why don’t we do that?” Thunderous applause. Leno continued, “How about shipping the IRS to Guantánamo Bay?” Thunderous applause again. If Republicans proceed with the nerve of Blonde and the wit of Leno, they’ll get the thunderous applause they deserve....

THIS IS A MUST SEE, MUST HEAR, MUST TAKE TO HEART SPEECH.
She fears the America we grew up in is slipping away..... I do too.

Big Nanny Government has become our master, rather than our servant, and has gotten far, far out of the zone of enumerated powers of our prized and precious Constitution.

And the further truth is, we citizens have let this happen over the past 40 years. We've been too occupied with ourselves and own interests, thinking government would keep running as it should. We can't go on as a free country unless we begin and continue to take a stand and back it up with actions the way this articulate and brave woman has done before the ways and means committee this week.

Monday, June 3, 2013

EVEN IF I BELIEVED THIS PATHETIC MAN'S STORY about the reason for his throat cancer, which I don't for one second, I find his attention grabbing, too-much-information 'admission' to be beyond the pail even for a Hollywood creep seeking more of the limelight. I'm sure his agent told him this kind of headline grabbing confession would do wonders for his aging career. Yes, yes, I know nothing is sacred anymore-- as we all act as if we deserve to know everything, all the time about the most lurid and boring details of a celebrity's life. We are a world of addicted voyeurs.

For me, it makes me cringe for him, his poor wife and family. What goes on---or doesn't go on---behind closed doors is his business and should stay behind closed doors. In the meantime, I find his soothsaying to be in poor taste behind belief and desperately booooring. And again, I don't believe this for a minute---because his is or has been a life of heavy drinking and smoking----and may have to turn off my computer for the rest of the week so I don't have to look at his desperate-for-attention face.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

HAVE TAKEN TIME OFF THIS WEEK TO TEND TO SEVERAL WORK PROJECTS AND ALSO READ A REAL BOOK. My read du jour is Victor Davis Hanson's new release The Savior Generals --How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars that Were Lost From Anciet Greece to Iraq. I know nothing about military history past or present. However, this week, I began to learn, especially with the book's section on William Tecumsah Sherman's Civil War victory in Atlanta and subsequent March to the Sea in 1864. It's a real eye-opener that I highly, highly recommend But more about that some other time.

Today however, I want to post a review of a book I have not read and which I am more interested in reading the reviews for than the actual book. Called Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg of Google and Facebook fame, I think its critique by Kathleen Nielson at The Gospel Coalition has as much if not more value than the book itself. That's because Nielson opines that while Sandburgs writing and wishing for exact eqaulity for men and women in both the workplace and home and her definition of ultimate success (money, power and influence) are interesting, if not novel ideas, there are several reasons it fails to satisfy: it's because Sandburg lacks an eternal perspective among other things.

To wit:

For Sandberg, success is tied up with money and influence. She asserts “earning money increases [women’s] decision-making ability in the home, protects them in case of divorce, and can be important security in later years” (118). If this life is all there is, such logic might suffice. For good reason, then, Walsh’s final question about Sandberg is whether she realizes she’s someday going to die. What stands out in Sandberg’s values, in other words, is a dramatic lack of transcendence. If she thinks there’s anything beyond the good of this material life, she’s not talking about it.

Rich and Powerful---

Such values determine Sandberg’s overarching goal, which, at first, might appear rather grand and unselfish: she wants equality for the human race. The irony, however, is that she herself has determined what’s good for all human beings and constructed it in her own image—that is, in the image of a rich and powerful leader.

Oh what a privilege it would be to discuss with Sandberg the good news of a God who made all of us—women and men alike—equally in his image, who desires good for us, and who sent his Son to make that good possible even though we in ourselves fall helplessly short. That good doesn’t have anything to do with this world’s money and power, either; it has to do with the goodness of God himself, who came in weakness to die so that by faith in him we might forever live and reign with him in glory.

In the context of such biblical values and goals, we can indeed talk about “leaning in” to utmost excellence in every dimension of our lives—for God’s glory, according to God’s Word, by God’s Spirit, and with results left to him. No doubt all of us too often settle for less excellence and fruit than we’re capable of, in all sorts of ways and workplaces, by God’s grace. But even with differing values and goals we can learn from people like Sandberg about certain kinds of excellence—being challenged, for example, to honor each other as women and men more thoughtfully and respectfully.
Leaning in to our work sounds a lot like work. It strikes me, then, that Christians have the liberating privilege of leaning in not simply to our work, but to the very presence of God himself—invisible yet with us in Christ and through the Spirit. There is the source of ultimate power to wield, the ultimate treasure to seek.

I couldn't agree more with Nielson: While worldly success can be achieved and enjoyed for what it is for both women and men, nothing takes place to the real, long-term leaning in to God and the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This world is fleeting and the success we've attained here can't be taken with us. So it seems important to have both a temporal as well as a long-term spiritual measure of true success.
And it's not always dictated for us by the prevailing, popular, feminist worldview of the day.

About Me

I'm a southern Christian conservative with a degree in civil & environmental engineering and a passion for the truth of God's Word, writing, hiking, investing, fly fishing, cooking and the great outdoors. My favorite tech invention = spellcheck. There are no such things as rights without responsibility, a free lunch, cheap grace, man-made climate change, successful government engineering, or figuring out when life begins. We're hurling towards the abyss with only One Life-Line: it's not botox, a "living" Constitution, celebrity president, or making nice with Iran. Meanwhile, God gave us His Word, His Son, Grace Upon Grace, family/friends and the greatest country in the world to live--if we can keep it. E-mail: webutante07 at gmail dot com. Thanks for coming by.

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine!